Skylar chuckles as the pillar falls on Bot 4. “That’s what you get for shooting at me mutha Fuc-Ohshit!” Skylar notices bots 1 and 5 aim and fire tasers at him. As they fire he uses his seismic-clap in an attempt to break one.

"I just wanted to tell you that the word is Epoch is nearly here." Said Detective Wellington.

"Who is Epoch?" Akvo asked, the violence drained from his voice and had, maybe just imperceptibly, been replaced with fear.

Are they calling out some big and bad Mutant hunter type?

"Epoch is the one you referred to as 'The Blue Streak' and he will be here in less than an hour." said Terrance.

"Well why didn't you tell me that from the start?" the anger returning to Akvo's voice.

"Are you going to release the hostages now that you've gotten what you want?" Terrance asked, taking the previous question as rhetorical.

"Why would I do that? If I let everyone out you'd just do your best to come in. I await their arrival." Said Akvo, steadying his voice.

"As you wish." Said Detective Wellington.

"Oh and one more thing Terry." Said Akvo.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Fuck off." said Akvo hanging up the phone.

He walked towards the hostages and pizzas.

"I hope everyone got enough to eat because it's time to go into lockdown." said Akvo in a less than concerned voice, "Bunch up in the corner. And as they say 'Don't try anything funny' because I'm not in the laughing mood."

Everyone made their way to the corner.

Akvo rolls to use Novice Skill Shoot Freeze Beams to contain the hostages. 1-7 is a failure 8-10 is a success.

Random number (1,10) : 5

Akvo rolls to use Novice Skill Shoot Freeze Beams to contain the hostages. 1-7 is a failure 8-10 is a success.

Random number (1,10) : 10

Akvo rolls to use Novice Skill Shoot Freeze Beams to contain the hostages. 1-7 is a failure 8-10 is a success.

Umbral sat quietly looking at his hands as shadows were weaving in between his fingers. Though the aircraft was moving insane speeds Umbral hardly noticed. He was too focused on the thought of fighting seriously this time.

Umbral thought to himself, " people are counting on me, I can do this..." as he glanced over at his comrades he spoke again, " WE can do this..." Umbral's head held high in confidence he clenched his fist one last time as shadow dispersed from his hands.

“God Dammit!” Skylar roars out as his hands cramp up. The two taser shots fire just to his left and right. His face becomes red with rage now. He is getting tired of this stupid charade. He walks slowly towards the bots now. The soldier stays out of the way of the bots and this super. Without his gun, he is somewhat useless.

His hands vibrate with Richter level vibrations. His eyes show the rage that he now feels. He lets a roar strain out of his mouth then immediately looks to the bots. He slams his hands together at Bot 5.

The plane had been on gradual deceleration as it approached Rapid City. Tom then came over the radio's that each of the heroes were wearing, "It looks like I'll be granted access to make a landing directly on 5th street, the local police have it sectioned off for us."

Epoch was a little nervous to meet is frosty adversary from the day before. He tried to assure himself that his new energy would be enough to thoroughly sedate and capture Frost Raptor.

"Unluckily enough for you," Tom started again, "It seems that there are already three of the national guard crews closing in on the bank. One from the north, another from the east and one from the west."

This was unfortunate, Epoch was certain that they had no intention of letting him return to station seven. Hopefully his compatriots would be strong enough to resist the guard and get the group back home safely, with or without Frost Raptor.

"Prepare for landing," Tom stated as the plane's engines cut lower as the plane descended. The landing gear hit the road with a jerking thud, and Epoch held onto his seat, knuckles grinding white under his gloves.

The craft skid and shifted a little, the wingspan nearly taking out light poles and signs. The flash of police warning lights lit up the area as the sun began to creep its way, edging closer to the horizon.

Abruptly, the plane stopped, and Tom cut the engines to a dull humming, "Good luck, guys. I'll be right here, and I'll keep it running."

Epoch unfastened his harnessing and crept out of the opened cockpit. The trip was slightly cramped, seated behind Tom's left side, Sol in the middle and Umbral off of Tom's right. Letting himself fall toward the ground, he planted his feet solidly on the asphalt.

"Epoch?" Asked a petty officer, who approached the plane, extending a hand.

Epoch grasped it tightly in greeting and shook it. Letting the hand fall he agree, "That's me," not knowing anything more heroic to say.

"Frost Raptor is inside, with a slough of hostages. Also, the military is approaching, the local police will no longer have jurisdiction here, as soon as you have dealt with the iceman."

Epoch stood next to his companions and nodded, forcing himself to breath, "My communicator is on," he said turning his head enough to address his partners, "You two, disable the guard so we can get home safe, this should be an easy job."

Dark jumped off the truck as it crossed through Hot Springs. He landed heavily on all fours but wasn't hurt. He quickly made his way to an ATM and hid beside it. He quickly sliced through the outer panels and through the inner working of the ATM and soon found what he needed. He grabbed as many stacks of the high amount bills as he could then quickly made his way to the clinic. He walked in and showed the receptionist his bloody hand.

Before he could say anything she screamed into the intercom "Doctor Robinson to the Front desk now!"

Mere seconds after a doctor saw his wound and grabbed him by the arm and drug him to the back. Without saying a word he stood him on a scale to get his weight then wrapped a pressure gauge to check his pulse and blood pressure.

After checking he finally said "You wrapped your hand immediately after didn't you?"

Dark softly said "Yes."

The doctor brought him into an operating room and put his hand on the table and said "This will hurt."

Dark responded "I've grown used to pain." The Doctor began digging through his hand with several tools. Dark looked away, He didn't much care about it. The pain was not overly horrible, but a major annoyance. The doctor began spraying his hand with some kind of disinfectant and after even more digging Dark could feel that his hand was being stitched back up. He looked over shocked at how quick that was. The doctor stuck a needle into his arm and drew some blood, and quickly sent it over to a nurse who took it for testing.

The doctor said "The wound seemed pretty clean but we will check for any infections. Hopefully you are in the clear. Stay here for a bit please so I can make sure of the results." The doctor walked out of the door and Dark quickly went through all the counter's looking for anything but could only find paper work.

After a second Dark sat back down as a nurse came in and said "You have a mild infection, but a few pills will take care of it. Do you have any allergies?"

Dark simply said "Not to my knowledge." The nurse nodded and started writing down on a piece of paper.

After a second the doctor came back in and gave him 2 pills and said "Those will wipe out the infection." Dark swallowed the pills with a glass of water then looked at the doctor and the nurse hoping to get out now that his hand was mostly fixed.

The doctor and the nurse argued amongst each other and Dark took the opportunity to leave a large stack of $100s he had gotten from the ATM then quickly slipped out of the building and back into the main stream of society. He looked at his cloths and knew he would stick out like a sore thumb so he quickly went to a store and brought a new coat and jeans for himself. After he left he saw the doctor outside talking to several police officers. He listened in with his enhanced hearing and heard the doctor explaining how he had just treated a super.

Dark knew that he was referring to him so he quickly made his way out of the city.

Vermillion, South DakotaUSD (University of South Dakota)Mara's Dorm Room6:31 of the PM - CT

Again, there is no answer on the other end. Mara lets the voice message system go on, waiting to leave her name and number after the beep. After giving her information, her focus returns to the road, which is now lit brightly by her headlights more so than the fading sun. Cherry Street quickly merges into 50 as she keeps east, not sure where to go.

“I’ve really got no direction…” she ponders, hoping the doctor didn’t live too far away from wherever she was heading. She restates the term ‘doctor’ in her head, not quite sure why she called the man by such a title. It seemed to fit though, with his lab coat and crazy goggles.

“No use stopping though. After all, it won’t take them too long to figure out who killed those girls,” chides the demon in her head.

“Yeh, well,” Mara shrugs, a smirk finding its way onto her face. “It’s not like I have to worry about going back any more. I’ve made up my mind, and there’s no stopping me.”

The voice chuckles, silky soft as it comments. “That’s the Mara I used to know. And here I thought you had gone soft!”

Dark eyes contract as her smile widens. “Yeh, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it back there. Thanks for the vacation, -…. Well, you’ve addressed me by name, but I don’t know what to call you by. Got a name?” she contemplates, wondering if the alien would respond with something unpronounceable or even at all.

“My full name is quite long, but you may call me Quaxm.”

“Quaxm.” Mara chuckles softly at the reply, almost missing the vibrating call coming from her lap. Picking up the cell with one hand, she keeps the other on the wheel, eyes scanning the road ahead. The moment the phone is up to her ear, a familiar booming voice begins blaring words negligent to whatever was meant for her. “Hello..?” she purrs, trying to stir the doctor from his previous distraction on the other end.

Dr. Weirds vision came back as A young female voice suddenly echoed out from his phone startling him.

“WHAT IS THIS WITCH CRAFT…? WAIT A MINUTE.” Thinking about it for a few seconds to recall what he was doing.

“OH, THAT’S RIGHT I CALLED YOU. Forgive me for ignoring your previous calls, but it seems that I have been really busy since I met you.” He paused a moment to pick a bug out of his teeth that he almost swallowed.

“Our first meeting was rather abrupt and I feel that may have been my fault somehow. Right, NO I AGREE WITH YOU STOP ARGUING WITH ME.”

“Since you have contacted me I assume you are need in need of some help. Why don’t you head to Wall SD, I will meet you there. Just call me when you get there, you know how to reach me right.” ________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Weird approaches Rapid City form the south, stopping to concealing himself in a large pine tree.

“HIDE YOURSELVE’S DAMN IT, I CAN’T HAVE OUR PRESENCE BEING KNOWN JUST YET.” He commands the six droids he brought with him. At his command the SR388’s positioned themselves in similar trees around him in a defensive position.

“Let’s have a look at what we have going on in town now shall we. Good thing I had these installed yesterday.” Dr. Weird hit button in his pod and the four sensor pods detached and went off into town.

“GO AND BE MY EYES.” He rants, “ONE MORE TIME NOW.” He says while pulling out the parting gift form Akvo.

(Dr. Weird attempts to Scry Akvo 1-8 FAIL, 9-10 SUCCESS)

Random number (1,10) : 10

Random number (1,10) : 4

Random number (1,10) : 6

(If the Scry is a success roll for target 1-5 Akvo, 6-10 the bandage factory)

Dr. Weirds vision blurs out of focus, and it refocuses in on Akvo, “SUCCESS!!!” He sees that Akvo is pacing around his ice cave while his hostages are chowing down on pizza.

“WHAT THE FUCK, I WANT PIZZA.” Dr. Weird then see’s the frustrated expression on Akvo’s face. “AHH HE’S MADE THAT I AM NOT THERE.”

His vision returns to him as he just sits there and smile. “JUST YOU WAIT, when the time is right I will make my entrance.”________________________________________________________________________________

"You will receive the remainder of the hostages but one and you will send him in." Said Akvo, now admiring his new Frost Armor before unfreezing the majority of the hostages

"Or all of the hostages will come out and then we will send him in." Said Wellington.

Akvo directed them to the door.

"No no Terry, it doesn't work that way. You will get all but one. I am keeping Calvin to ensure that you do not send in any cops or additional supers. You may have Calvin when I have that confidence." Replied Akvo, keeping a level voice to ensure it was known he had the upper hand.

"What about my officer?" Asked Terry.

"He remains to be seen as well, actually. He's still out cold. I am now placing my palm on his forehead. Need I remind you that I've pierced skulls from over ten meters? Send him in." Akvo said.

Terence waved Epoch along, and Epoch puffed up a little, walking toward the bank entrance. Hostages flooded out, some running, others pacing. Perhaps a small Stockholm Syndrome had been setting in on some of them?

Epoch reached the doorway and took a few steps inward and turned his glance to Akvo. "The gig is up, Frost Raptor, I suggest you let those last couple hostages go, and we can work this out peacefully. I'd rather not shed any blood today."

Epoch noticed that Frost Raptor had the visible appearance of going through hell. What had this man been up to in the last twenty-four hours? Either way, he looked stern and collected. Even more interesting, his skin seemed to shine a little, like he was covered in a thin layer of shimmering ice.

Takeshi sped through the arid Badlands at blinding speeds, his blazing compatriot following closely behind. The sun was now taking what seemed a rapid descent from the orange evening sky to the horizon, long pronounced shadows taking the shapes of the various spires and plateau’s was somewhat of a spectacle to Takeshi, who until recently, had never even been in South Dakota.

As Takeshi and Yilana approached the crash site the scent of smoke and even a trace hint of incinerated flesh became stronger and stronger.South Dakota Badlands, Crash Site5:45:27 P.M. MT

Takeshi and Yilana ascended over a small rocky slope overlooking the crash site.

“Heh heh, damn impressive madman…..” Takeshi chuckled to himself, now surveying the crash site from a close distance.

That crash site itself was a spectacle of utter destruction, I violent macabre of twisted metal and deep orange flame. The wreckage's where spread over a large 70(ish) foot radius.Takeshi paced around the crash site, taking notice of smoking charred corpses among the wreckage's from time to time. During Takeshi investigation he also took notice of a large semi-charred white plate, on the plate was a large illustrated heart containing an insignia of what seemed to be a cartoonized portrait of Dr. Weird.

Suddenly from a short distance came a blatantly distressed call for help…

Takeshi looked in the direction of the shout to get a glimpse of a badly wounded soldier pulling himself out from one of the chopper wreckages.

“Ohhhhhhh myyyyyyy.” Takeshi spoke, a look of great exhilaration across his face.

As Takeshi moved closer to the wounded soldier he could instantly tell that there was nothing to salvage with this man, his legs where bent in all of which directions, much of his military vest had been burnt away leaving only heavily seared skin, his face was a grim visage of gore… parts of his scalp seared to the bone.

A little finesse should make this one interesting… Takeshi thought to himself, now kneeling down next to the soldier.

“O..Oh thank God! Please I..I think my legs are gone!”

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help… I am a doctor.” Takeshi spoke, a cynical grim across his face, as he pulled the soldier further out from the wreckage.

“W….What?? Y…You don’t look like a doctor.” Spoke the soldier, cringing from the extreme pain he was experiencing.

“Heh, on the contrary…. You don’t look like a human anymore… now, I’m going to need you to answer a few questions.” Takeshi declared, pulling a syringe of morphine from his coat, injecting it into the soldiers arm.

“First, I’m going to need to know your name, and second, do you have any family that will need to be contacted in the event that your life takes a turn for the……worst..”

“M..My name is Mason Yinsen….p..private Mason Yinson…. I have a wife and two children back in Ra…Rapid City..” Proclaimed the soldier in a now less pained tone.Perfect… Takeshi thought with a grin.

“Alright…. Mason, thank you for being so cooperative, I just need you to keep calm and I’ll begin…. patching you up….” Takeshi asserted, his voice now taking on a grim tone as he glared directly into the soldiers bloody eyes.

South Dakota Badlands, Crash Site5:49:43 P.M. MT“What the…… Oh my god!!! What the fuck is going on!….. is this some kind of nightmare!?!....” The soldier cried, now clawing at his eyes.

“Well, well, well Mason, it’s just not your lucky day today is it…. First you get shot outta the sky, and now it seems as though your family is dead…. that’s rough.. heh heh heh.” Takeshi cynically declared, placing the barrel of his handgun between the soldiers eye’s.

“Luckily for you, I’m a doctor… here to put you out of your pathetic misery…. I hope you don’t mind if I give you a simple lobotomy!...mwahahahahahaha!!”

Then from over a large plateau came a gray CH-46 Sea Knight cargo chopper slowly descending down the plateau and towards the two villains.

“Looks like we’re about to have some company, get ready.” Takeshi declared to Yilana, his look of excitement only magnifying as the chopper grew closer.________________________________________________________________________________Alpha Skill Hypnosis: 8/20Alpha Skill Sensory Manipulation(Feel):3/20Minor Skill Sensory Manipulation(Sight):3/10

Skylars rage grows as his body begins to deny him his request to destroy these bots. He lunges in foreword. Bot five raises its taser and fires. Skylar takes the taser to his chest and just lunges ontop of bot five and lets out a bellowing roar.

After Umbral had stepped out of the helicopter he seemed to be off in space...he was just standing there taking in the area around him..

He slowly glanced over to Sol which had said something he had missed as Sol ran off heading to the North.

Umbral looked toward the remaining groups and assumed that the heroes were to take them on one at a time. Umbral was excited bouncing with anticipation, he took the time to pick his group.

Umbral pointed at each group and started saying in a intimidating voice, " Skunk in a barn yard, pee you, somebody let it...thats..." and before he could finish something happened..he had felt it earlier but thought it was just nothing.

Umbral's eyes glazed over in black, and then he looked down at his hands and was surprised at what he saw, they were covered in shadow...Umbral knew this shadow..it was his own.

Umbral's shadow had joined with him covering his body. It had seemed his shadow had a mind of its own, and it was ready...ready to fight, Umbral had entered fully into Shadow State for the first time.

"You look an awful lot like a cowboy standing in that thar doorway." said Akvo changing to a southern accent mid sentence.

"Calvin, you may leave. Thank you for your cooperation. Give my best to Terry." Akvo said without a trace of sarcasm in his voice. Calvin made his way through the doorway, not rushing but taking into consideration he was on someone else's time. "Step aside, we don't need any interruptions."

He froze the entryway and he sees Epoch jolt, but only barely.

"Good job not bringing the big one here. He probably wouldn't let me live long enough to talk." Said Akvo who began pacing still keeping a hand towards the officer.

"I see you're admiring my new addition. I've been going through some changes which is why I've called you here." Said Akvo who stopped pacing. He placed his hand on the officers forehead again. He roused.

"Good morning sunshine." Said Akvo.

"Fuck off" the officer said back.

"Well with that kind of attitude, I don't think you'll make for a productive dialogue." Said Akvo who then threw all of his weight into a punch to the officers face again.

"Now that we're alone. I'm sure you've been sent here to capture or kill me, please begin your spiel." Said Akvo replacing his hand on the officers forehead.

Skylars roar shook the whole barn, but it stands strong, regardless of if the bot cracked or broke. He let out one more roar to make sure it wouldn’t be getting up. After his roar, he Looks at the cracked bot 1, and attempts his seismic clap upon it.

Raging Roar (1-5 Fail, 6-10 Success)

Random number (1,10) : 7

Seismic-Clap (1-8 Fail, 9-10 Success)

Random number (1,10) : 2

If Roar doesn’t go off, (1-5 Bot 5 is cracked, 6-10 its broken from the first roar.)

Epoch was relatively intimidated at this point, seeing how collected Akvo was being. He had to get his point across, and perhaps he could end the bloodshed at this bank.

"I have been ordered to neutralize you at all costs," He straightened up and took a step forward, "however, I have no intention of killing you. To be entirely honest, I'm not the most interested in fighting you either." Taking a breath, Epoch calmed his nerves, nearly feeling at ease. "Sadly, I can't just let you walk out of here, without taking you back to the NSS. Serving time might not be your cup of tea, but it's better than what you'll get walking out of here."

It was time to break some unpleasant news. Epoch's voice became more stern and empowered, "The United States government has declared a state of emergency, hunting down heroes and villains, anyone with superpowers. Even I am supposed to turn myself in. So today, you and I are in a similar predicament and I think we both want to get out of this alive and with as much freedom intact as possible. If you come back with me to the NSS we'll work something out."

Hopefully the offer would set in and this whole deal could be over quickly.

"Do you really believe they will let us walk out of here if you were to detain me? Surely not." Akvo said drumming his fingers harder on the skull of the officer.

"And furthermore, how do you expect to detain me? It doesn't appear as if you've brought some sort of fancy poly carbon net. Or even a pair of handcuffs. Were you planning on knocking me out cold and dragging me out of the bank? You need me to unseal the entrance and do you even have any idea how heavy it is to drag a body? Dead weight is awfully heavy." Akvo said noticing a small look of shock coming over Epochs face.

"But if you truly do not plan on fighting me then I shall relinquish this facade. I don't exactly need armor if you don't intend to throw punches." Said Akvo

He breathed out. Clenching his fists the ice falling off of his body in sheets. Shattering sounds rang out through the bank. He unclenched his fists and his skin was normal again.

"It would have been awfully pretentious of me to maintain that at this point. But seriously, did you even think about coming here? I could kill this man in an instant and you don't even have a decent detaining mechanism. I'm somewhat insulted to be quite frank." Akvo said pacing.

"This is why I also called Doctor Weird. I was hoping one of you would attempt something more to offer than a bear hug. I was interested in what you would both say but it seems you're losing credibility quite quickly." Said Akvo stopping.______________________________________________________________________________SkillsMolecular Substantiation [Passive]Shoot Sharp Icicles [Superior] - 13/30Make shields of ice for protection [Alpha] - 5/20Shoot Freeze Beams [Alpha] - 1/20Create Amor Out of Ice [Novice] - 0/10

The barn shakes once more from the resounding roar. Scrap metal flies out from bot 5 as it cracks and shatters into pieces from this dual roar. Bot 5 now is scattered throughout the barn, Skylar stands up from the bot, his eyed dead set upon Bot 1.

“You bastards come here, and try to kill me? You call me a killer, well im going to show you a killer!” Roars out Skylar with deeply seeded rage. He smashes his hands together at Bot 1.